HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



141 



rion'ty of intellectual talents coun- 

 ted more dangerous than useful. 

 The populace, in short, shielded 

 under the honourable name of Peo- 

 J)le, resti-icted all merit, esteem, 

 and consideration, to those branches 

 of the ccmmunity whose labours 

 and ingenuity supplied it with the 

 necessaries and conveniences of 

 life ; all others were held useless or 

 frivolous, and only tending to raise 

 the artful and designing over the 

 plain and well-meaning. These no- 

 tions were daily spreading with ex- 

 tensive rapidity ; and it was among 

 the vilest of men that the most vio- 

 lent and outrageous parti zans of Ro- 

 bespierre were found. The more de- 

 cent conditions lived, of course, 

 in continual apprehension of the 

 others, whose envy and enmity 

 went hand in hand to effect their 

 humiliation. But it was not among 

 the lower sort only that the basest 

 of his instruments were selected : 

 the more decent ranks supplied 

 him with the less furious but still 

 more despicable tribes of spies and 

 informers that infested every social 

 circle, and extinguished the enjoy- 

 ments of friendship and intimacy, 

 by rendering men suspicious of 

 each other, and putting them on 

 their guard against every face with 

 which they were not perfectly well 

 acquainted. 



It was at this horrible period that 

 the French rulers and their nume- 

 roiM abettors sunk to the lov.'e<^t de- 

 gradation that ever disgraced the 

 character of any nation. The ties 

 of domestic confidence and of fa- 

 mily affection were so completely 

 ^oo3ened, that servants thought 

 they acted a meritorious part in 

 betraying their masters ; and, horrid 

 to tell ! the nearest and most dear 

 relations became the victims of that 

 trust which arose equally from na- 



ture and necessity. Brothers were 

 denounced by their brothers, pa- 

 rents by their sons, and sons by 

 their parents. Such were the 

 effects of that patriotism which 

 taught mankind to trample on filial . 

 and paternal duties, and to stifle 

 ever}' sentiment of natural tender- 

 ness, whenever it stood in compe- 

 tition with the ordinances of the 

 law. The abominable deeds of this 

 kind, said to have been perpetrated 

 in France, are so shocking Ss to re- 

 main almost incredible ; and none 

 but ocular witnesses have a right 

 to relate them. On the other hand, 

 in the midst of this horrible gloom 

 were seen the brightest examples 

 of courage, generosity in friend- 

 ship, and constancy even to deatl), 

 in various modification of afl'ectioa 

 and love. Children exposed them- 

 selves to death for their parents, 

 and parents for their children j 

 husbands for wives, and wives for 

 husbands ; friends afforded an zlsy- 

 lum to persecuted friends ; and fa- 

 milies of the emigrants, at the peril 

 of their lives, made remiitaaces for 

 the support of their proscribed re- 

 lations. The aspect of France 

 at this calamitous period, very for-i 

 cibly recalled to mind the descrip- 

 tion that is given of the Roman 

 Emperor in the reign of Nero ; 

 when acts of despotism in constant 

 succession, continual accusations, 

 the treachery of friends, the 

 ruin of innocence, and trial after 

 trial, ending always in the same 

 tragic catastrophe, are gloriously 

 contrasted with the virtue of rela- 

 tives arid friends, bold and daring 

 in a generous Fympathy'; motliers 

 accompanying their emigrant $ons^ 

 wives following their husbands into 

 exile ; and the fidelity even of slaves 

 defying and spuruing at the severest 

 torture*. 



• Vide Tacit. Histor. cup. a, 3. 



An 



